SANCTION IS A CONTRANYM- A WORD WITH TWO OPPOSITE MEANINGS:
1.official permission or approval for an action- The Obama definition
2.penalty, punishment, deterrent; punitive action, discipline, restriction;……..RSK
No Disneyland visits for deputy commanders; Happy Meals for the Peshmerga.
Washington, August 25. Briefly interrupting his latest vacation, President Obama made a surprise visit to the nation’s capital today to announce that his administration is taking forceful action to stop the advance of the violent extremist movement calling itself the Islamic State, and otherwise known as ISIS.
“The Islamic State is a cancer on the region, and represents a horrendous threat to civilized humanity worldwide,” the president said. “Therefore I am announcing today a series of powerful actions to halt, and ultimately destroy, this menace. The brutal murderers of James Foley will soon see exactly what it means to incur the righteous wrath of the United States of America.”
Following the president’s announcement, White House spokesperson Benjamin Rhodes stepped up to the podium to detail the measures to be taken. “Our strategy consists of two components,” Mr. Rhodes said. “We will punish ISIS directly, and will provide strong assistance to those forces in the region willing and able to fight it.”
“In line with this, as a direct punitive measure to be taken as soon as possible, the State Department will shortly release a list of six regional ISIS deputy commanders who will be denied entrance visas to the United States for the foreseeable future. This will send a powerful message to all ISIS officers: You can cut off the heads of American citizens, or you can visit Disneyland. You can’t do both.”
Asked by reporters why the administration was only targeting deputy regional ISIS commanders, rather than higher-level officials, Mr. Rhodes explained that the U.S. actions “are being carefully calibrated to represent a proportionate response,” but that “should ISIS continue to escalate its violence beyond the current level, all options, including visa denials to actual regional commanders, are on the table, and will be considered in due course.” Mr. Rhodes added that even ISIS government ministers could eventually be held accountable and denied U.S. entrance visas themselves, “provided, of course, that direct culpability of such senior officials in specific atrocities is first proven by a thorough forensic investigation and confirmed in accord with proper standards of evidence and due process in a court of law.”